Systems and methods for mapping emerged plants

Abstract

A system uses an optical sensor and an image processing apparatus to map emerged plants in a field. The optical sensor collects at least one image of a field of emerged plants. The image processing apparatus analyzes the image to detect areas of vegetation and creates a vegetation map indicative of the detected areas. The image processing element then analyzes the vegetation map to identify emerged plants within the image and creates at least map indicating locations of the emerged plants in the field. Such map may be used to make efficient crop management decisions based on the actual layout of emerged plants in the field.

Description

RELATED ART[0001]Detailed information about planted crops helps farmers to make efficient and cost-effective management decisions. To assist farmers in gathering more information about crops, systems have been developed to automatically determine and record the locations where seeds are planted. For example, as a farmer is using a tractor to plant seeds in a field, an on-board controller may determine when a seed has been planted and then use a global positioning system (GPS) or other type of sensor to determine the approximate location of the planted seed. Using such information collected at the time of planting, the controller can generate an as-planted map that indicates the number of seeds planted in various regions of the field.[0002]Having access to the as-planted map provides a farmer with various advantages. As an example, a farmer may use the as-planted map to efficiently determine the amount of fertilizer or water to be applied to a certain region of the field. If one regi...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent describes a system and method for mapping emerged plants in a field using an optical sensor, such as a camera, mounted on an aircraft or other equipment. The system captures images of the field and detects areas of vegetation to create a map that indicates the location of each emerged plant. This map can be used to make more efficient crop management decisions. The technical effect of the patent is to provide a more accurate and reliable tool for farmers to manage their crops.

Problems solved by technology

Although such an as-planted map accurately reflects the crop layout of a field at the time of planting, conditions of the crop may change over time such that the as-planted map no longer accurately indicates the layout of crops in certain areas of the field.

As an example, some of the seeds may never germinate to form an emerged plant (e.g., a region of the field may be flooded thereby washing away some of the seeds) and some of the plants may die shortly after germination due to flooding, drought, pesticides, or other reasons.

As a result, by relying on the as-planted map after a significant change in crop layout since planting, a farmer might make at least some inefficient crop management decisions.

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